Outdated finance tools slowing startup growth

New data from Wallester shows 55% of businesses cite manual processes as their biggest bottleneck, as demand grows for instant, digital-first financial tools

While 80% of startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Europe are undertaking 2026 with a growth-oriented mindset, a critical infrastructure bottleneck threatens to slow that momentum. According to the Wallester Corporate Spending Outlook 2026, over half of business leaders (55%) identify “too many manual processes” as their biggest operational challenge, highlighting a widening expectation gap between how people manage money in their personal lives and how businesses handle corporate spending.

The report combines survey data from Wallester Business clients with an analysis of more than 4.6 million anonymised transactions across the EEA and the UK in 2025.

Consumer finance has become instant, intuitive, and fully digital. In contrast, many businesses still rely on spreadsheets, delayed reconciliations, and fragmented approval processes. This mismatch is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain as companies prioritise speed, visibility, and control.

“The reality is that small businesses can no longer afford to wait weeks for credit decisions, physical card delivery, or receipt collecting,” says Edouard Roca, Head of Business Development at Wallester. “In today’s market, time literally is money. If a company can’t provide its teams with the same instant, digital-first experience they know from their personal lives, they lose stickiness and fall behind.”

From expectation gap to operational shift

The findings suggest that the “consumerisation” of financial services – meaning the expectation that business financial tools should offer the same speed, usability, and real-time access as consumer apps – is already reshaping how companies manage spending and operations.

Key findings include:

• 55% of startups and SMEs cite manual processes as their main spend management challenge
• 85% report confidence in forecasting spending, reflecting demand for real-time visibility into company finances
• 55% already use virtual cards, which can be created instantly and used for specific teams, projects, or transactions
• Spending on AI tools and cloud infrastructure is rising, with OpenAI subscriptions accounting for 0.56% of total corporate spend and AWS 0.58%

The data indicates that businesses are not only expecting faster financial workflows but are actively investing in technologies that reduce friction, automate processes, and provide immediate access to financial data.

“The primary friction point is no longer the payment itself, but everything that happens after,” Roca adds. “In many traditional systems, transactions are followed by manual reconciliation and delayed reporting. Businesses are now prioritising tools that automatically capture, categorise, and make transaction data available in real time.”

Growth ambitions meet infrastructure limits

The shift comes as startups and SMEs re-enter a growth phase. According to the report, 80% of businesses are either focused on growth or continuing to invest cautiously, while 65% expect marketing budgets to increase in the next six months.

This is reflected in spending patterns, where advertising services remain the largest cost category, accounting for 7.04% of total corporate spend, more than three times the next category.

At the same time, business travel is emerging as a divided priority for 2026. Around 40% of companies are increasing travel to support growth and close deals, while 35% are trying to reduce it to preserve margins.

Meanwhile, 62% of surveyed companies already operate in multiple countries, and 50% identify international expansion as a top strategic priority.

However, as companies scale across borders, their financial infrastructure is not keeping pace. Teams continue to rely heavily on company cards (85%) and invoice payments (60%), yet many organisations still lack real-time control and visibility over spending.

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This creates a clear disconnect: businesses are scaling faster, but their financial systems remain slow, fragmented, and reactive.

Finance moves from back office to growth driver

The findings suggest that financial infrastructure is becoming a limiting factor for startup and SME growth, rather than just a support function.

As companies expand internationally, finance teams are increasingly expected to provide real-time insights without slowing down operations. Tools such as real-time expense management platforms and API-based card issuing infrastructure allow businesses to automate reconciliation, improve visibility, and scale financial operations more efficiently across markets.

Companies that adopt these systems are better positioned to turn spend management from a reactive administrative task into a source of operational intelligence.

“The companies leading this shift treat financial infrastructure as a competitive advantage, not a back-office necessity,” Roca says.

While the gap between consumer and business finance is narrowing, it remains significant for organisations still relying on manual processes and delayed reporting cycles.